Month: September 2023

Birding, September 30, 2023: Hello fall

Where: Centennial Beach (Delta), Boundary Bay Dyke Trail (Delta), Crescent Beach (Surrey), and Piper Spit (Burnaby)
Weather: Sunny, 12-17C

The Outing

We hit four sites on our first official fall bird outing and the weather, though sunny, was indeed fall-like, with it starting at only 12C at Centennial Beach, along with a brisk wind. It warmed up to around 17C by late in the afternoon.

Centennial Beach: Raptors on Raptor Trail once again failed to materialize, but we did see a bald eagle out on the tidal flats. Shorebirds were also scarce, possibly due to the tide being way out, as it often is when we visit. We saw gulls, a Brewer’s blackbird couple, a wigeon or two, plus a bunch of goldfinches that would not stop flitting about.

Boundary Bay Dyke Trail: Planes were plentiful, and birds were, too, but much like earlier, they were flitting like mad from tree to tree and branch to branch, making good shots a fun (?) challenge! We did see a Northern harrier or two, as well. As always, the view was nice.

Crescent Beach/Blackie Spit: Seagulls were flying around in abundance, as were some herons, but no loons, alas. We did see some more yellowlegs and a few cormorants. The beach and park were fairly busy, which surprised me a little. Apparently everyone wanted to be outside on the first nice Saturday of fall. By now it was warm enough to doff jackets, if desired.

Piper Spit: This place was crawling with people and children (not that children aren’t people, but you know what I mean). Coots were croaking, but all the shorebirds were in one tight group, snoozing. Golden hour was setting in, so light was rather harsh. We shot a heron grooming up in a tree. They always look weird up in trees. I did not notice any pigeons or seagulls, and the land mass seems to be continuing to expand, so I assume they are letting more water flow out of the lake, Or maybe it’s magic.

Overall, it was a good day of birding, even if we didn’t see anything super exotic, and even though a lot of the birds were even more uncooperative than usual. Don’t they know we just want to capture them in all their pretty glory?

The Shots

Soon™

The Birds (and other critters)

Sparrows and sparrow-adjacent:

  • American blackbird
  • American robin
  • Anna’s hummingbird
  • Black-capped chickadee
  • Brewer’s blackbird
  • Golden-crowned sparrow
  • Goldfinch
  • Northern flicker
  • Savannah sparrow
  • Song sparrow
  • Spotted towhee
  • Steller’s jay
  • Yellow-rumped warbler

Waterfowl:

  • American coot
  • American wigeon
  • Canada goose
  • Great blue heron
  • Greater yellowlegs
  • Green-winged teal
  • Mallard
  • Northern pintail (possibly)
  • Wood duck

Common:

  • American crow
  • Glaucous-winged gull
  • Ring-billed gull
  • Pacific gull (?)

Raptors:

  • Bald eagle
  • Northern harrier

Non-birds:

  • Douglas and gray squirrels
  • Dragonflies
  • Grasshoppers
  • A fuzzy little caterpillar dude (or dudette, who can tell?)
  • Various aircraft

September 2023 was a month

I’m not sure how I’d summarize this September. Unlike last September, which was a long continuation of very hot and humid weather, this September saw enough precipitation that by the end of the month the fire danger rating dropped back to low. Fall arrived with Very Fall weather and two day into the new season, we had our first official fall storm, with weather advisories and everything.

September was never especially hot, though we had nice days. I gained half a pound, but at least 300 grams was sexy leg muscle, I’m pretty sure.

So, a mixed bag.

I’m expecting snow by Halloween.

September 2023 weight loss report: Up 0.5 pounds

This was a weird month. I started with an uptick in weight, which normally makes it easier to be down for the month.

Normally.

And in fact, I was down for 21 of the 30 days, so the trend was definitely down. Three days ago, I was still down, by 0.4 pounds (my lowest of the month was a week before at 164.8 pounds), then two days ago I jumped 1.2 pounds, meaning I had to lose 0.8 pounds in two days to be down for the month. I lost 0.3 pounds.

:sadtrombone:

On the plus side, part of the gain was actual muscle mass (if my scale is accurate, and for this I choose to believe IT IS 100% ACCURATE ALWAYS)–about 300 grams in the last week (I ran four times). My body fat was also (just barely) down for the month, too, despite being up slightly. You can’t argue with math!

So while this uptick is unfortunate, I actually believe–not fake believe!–that it’s temporary. Thus, I boldly predict:

I will be down in weight for October.

Stats:

Weight:

January 1, 2023: 164.2 pounds 
Current: 167.6 pounds
Year to date: Up 3.4 pounds

September 1: 167.1 pounds
September 30: 167.6 pounds (up 0.5 pounds)

Body fat:

September 1: 24.9%
September 30: 24.8% (down 0.1%) 

Historical: January 1, 2022: 182.8 pounds

52 short stories in 52 weeks

Apparently Ray Bradbury advised beginning writers to try writing one short story per week for a year, rather than trying to tackle a novel first. The idea was that while you might write a bad novel on your first try, it was unlikely you could write 50+ bad stories in a row. I mean, you could, but you’d probably have to make an effort in that direction. And writers hate making that sort of concerted effort. At least I do.

And now I am intrigued with the idea of writing 52 short stories in 52 weeks. In fact, I’ve tried variations on this in the past, with varying degrees of success. I think what appeals to me here is that with only a week per story, I know I’m not going to write something particularly complex or grand, and I like that.

If I decide to go ahead on this, I’ll make an official™ announcement post. I could always end up just playing more Bejewelled 3, though.

Run 813: Uh oh, fast!

View from Cariboo Dam, pre-run. A serene-looking early fall day.

A weird thing happened today.

I was fast!

I did not plan on being fast. Since the whole knee thing started, I have been afraid of being fast.

I started the run late, just after 1 p.m., but it was still on the cool side, only 13C to start. Humidity was still relatively high, and there was a decent breeze blowing, so conditions were actually quite decent. Due to the late start, I opted to do a short loop clockwise at the lake, which saves me having to walk the extra 5 km to get back to the beginning.

I had to use the Jiffy John™ before starting, and heard voices outside it while I was inside. I waited for the inevitable and sure enough, someone tried yoinking the locked door open. When I came out they made some vague joke, but I just continued on, I had a run to do! I also later discovered the two colours used to denote the door being closed/open (red/green) can be hard to distinguish by certain colour-blind people, so I’ll cut them some slack. Maybe instead of colours, they could use symbols. I’ll leave it to your imagination what those symbols should be.

Anyway, the run! I had no plan, I was just going to run steady and see how it went. I was pleasantly surprised when the first km came in at a speedy 5:38/km. I was equally surprised when the second km was the same. I varied slightly above that for the next two, then finished with a very surprising pace of 5:22/km, which also resulted in an award in the Garmin app for fastest 1K (second one in as many days, woo).

I achieved the overall pace of 5:36/km while also having a lower BPM of 152. Really, it all seemed a bit weird.

The knees seemed fine again. There was a twinge once, but nothing more. The left hip was present, but not overbearing or anything.

One dog on the trail was off-leash and ahead of its (bad) owners, but it was not particularly excitable and didn’t present a problem. The trail was not overly busy, especially considering it was Friday.

Now I wait and see how the legs hold up over the weekend, with two days to rest and recover. I ran four days this week, three of them in a row. We’ll see how wise this was soon!

For now, I bask in the mild glory of exceeding my own expectations.

Beaver dam on the Brunette River

Stats:

Run 813
Average pace: 5:36/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Burnaby Lake (short loop, CW)
Start: 1:06 p.m.
Distance: 5:03 km
Time: 28:11
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 13-15ºC
Humidity: 67-65%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 152
Weight: 167.7
Total distance to date: 5942.6 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (77.6/150/227.6 km)

It’s been a day

Good:

  • My first mini-run. Fastest 1K to date! Yay!
  • Taco dinner was yummy

Bad:

  • Internet connection went down for the second time in a week (almost to the exact hour, hmm!)
  • Power went out for about 15 minutes (this almost never happens here)
  • I was baking bread when the power went out
  • Hot water is now out (probably due to the boiler shutting off and no one restarting it)
  • My weight jumped up 1.2 pounds overnight, putting me up for the month with two days to go. I try to convince myself it’s just dense, sexy leg muscle, but I’m not sure. EDIT: I checked, and my water weight increased, as did my skeletal muscle mass. The former is kind of neutral, but can explain weight gain, the second is actually good. So maybe a very slight increase in sexy leg muscle.
  • I had an interrupted, not great sleep
  • The above left me crankier than I’ve been in a good while. Or a bad while.

Okay:

  • The bread survived, it’s just a bit lumpy, but in a lovable way
  • The dishwasher works, because it makes its own hot water. It’s smart!
  • I already had a shower post-run when hot water was still a thing
  • I’ll probably have weird dreams about some or all of the above tonight

Run 812: Unplanned mini-run!

Brunette River, pre-run

I did a spontaneous mini-run today!

Yesterday I thought about doing shorter runs on my off-days–currently Tuesday and Thursday–with the idea being I’d either go half my usual distance (so 2.5 km) or run for a set amount of time (something that would at least equal the half distance, like 15 minutes).

I ultimately opted to go for distance, because it would keep things neater and tidier in the stats (that didn’t happen today, for reasons I will explain below).

The idea behind these mini-runs is:

  • To improve my overall fitness
  • To help get me energized at the start of the day
  • To see what fun things will happen to my body

It’s mostly the second one. I feel that on non-run days I start out a bit blah and listless. Running focuses me and gets me energized. If I keep the runs short and on the river trail (as I did today) they can give me a boost without eating up too much time.

Also, the stats are faster, which is a nice because fast is GOOD. Right?

Speaking of stats, the shorter run resulted in a lower BPM of 154, and a faster average pace of 5:29/km. I also got an award for my fastest 1 km yet, at 5:22/km.

With a run like this, there isn’t really time for any issues to develop. The biggest one was technical. I wanted to end the run at 2.5 km and got a text alert shortly before that. The alerts cover the top of the watch display where distance is shown. I don’t know how to dismiss the alerts, and this one seemed to sit there forever. I finally just guessed I’d hit 2.5 km and paused the run, to find I was actually at 2.59 km. Not a big deal, but it rankles me in an OCD way. I have since learned how to dismiss alerts during a run. For posterity, in case I forget, or if anyone else wants to know:

How to clear a message alert during a run on a Garmin Forerunner 255:

• Press the Down button (this shows the message)
• Press the Back button (this clears the message)

I will probably keep doing these mini-runs for a while to see how they go. In a way, it feels like cheating because they’re so quick. I’m sure my body will show me otherwise soon enough.

NOTE: I forgot to stretch before the run. We'll see if that has any impact later!
Run 812
Average pace: 5:29/km
Training status: Productive
Location: Brunette River Trail
Start: 11:34 a.m.
Distance: 2.59 km
Time: 14:13
Weather: Cloudy, some sun
Temp: 13ºC
Humidity: 87-85%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 154
Weight: 167.9
Total distance to date: 5937.6 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (72.6/142/214.6 km)

Yes, I am constantly changing the body font

As I post this on September 27, 2023, the body font for my blog here is the Google font Zilla Slab. It may change soon. It will probably change soon. I can never find one I quite like. I am going through my Serif Phase now, though, so whatever comes next will likely be a serif font.

And yes, I know technically these are typefaces, and it’s only the specific variants that are called fonts, but that battle has long been lost, typography nerds. Sorry!

One day I may even be bold enough to tinker with the site again. Until then, I have billions more fonts to go through.

For when it gets changed, this is what Zilla Slab looks like:

WordPress 6.3: Stepping backward

UPDATE, September 30, 2023: New deficiencies/regressions are being added to a list at the bottom of the post as I encounter them.
UPDATE, November 15, 2023: WordPress 6.4 is out and at least one of the regressions has been addressed. The Open in new tab option for links is no longer buried, as seen in the screenshot below. Yay.

I try to avoid spending too much time complaining. Who wants to read some random dude’s complaints, after all? I mean, if they’re clever enough, sure. But this is not particularly clever, so I’ll be brief1In retrospect, this was a massive lie. Apologies for massively lying to you!.

WordPress 6.3 brought a few tweaks to the UI of the editor/block editor, resulting in inconsistency, adding extra steps to do the same tasks as before, and generally made the experience of doing stuff other than just basic text entry more cumbersome, with no discernible benefits that I can see as a trade-off.

There has been a lot of hate for the block editor, and rightly so2Not even a humble opinion, no sir.. It made it easy to drop in or move around blocks of “content”, but made it harder to actually just write, like in the olden days when blogs were all the rage.

I flirted with the classic editor plugin (5+ million installs) and have the classic editor block I can always use in a pinch, but my preference is to use software as intended, not install a bunch of hacks or workarounds to bend it to my will. The assumption is that the software will work the way I expect it to (mostly), and stay out of the way.

WordPress 6.3 does not stay out of the way. It blocks (ho ho) your way. It is anti-way.

None of what I’m about to detail is going to cause meteors to fall out of the sky or give someone a bad rash. These things don’t make WordPress unusable. But they make it clunkier, they add friction where there was no friction before, and they speak to a trend in design that suggests things may get worse still.

The three issues covered here:

  • Preview is now hidden behind a terrible, tiny, and meaningless icon.
  • If you want a caption on an image, you now have to specifically toggle captions on.
  • Setting a link to open in a new tab is now a multi-step, cumbersome process.
NOTE: I have added a pretty blue border around a lot of the shots below to make them stand out better. They are not this pretty in real life.

In order:

Preview’s new icon

Preview used to be a button that looked like this:

It is now this icon instead:

I believe it’s supposed to be an icon representing a laptop. Or maybe it’s an old-fashioned hand iron. Who knows? And if it’s a laptop, what does that have to do with Preview, anyway? And why is Preview now an icon, but Save draft and Publish aren’t? It’s not like there isn’t enough space. It’s inconsistent, vague and looks amateurish. And ugly.

Caption an image

Back in the olden times of WordPress pre version 6.3, you would add a caption to a photo by simply typing it into the caption space below the image. If you left the caption space blank, the space would not render. Simple!

Now when you want to caption an image, you must specifically choose the option from the toolbar while the image is highlighted, like so:

This puts the caption area below the image:

In some crazy parallel universe where everything is opposite, this makes sense. Here, it just adds busywork to a task that literally had no steps to it, you just started typing!

Making a link open in a new tab

In the previous version of WordPress, if you wanted to make a link open in a new tab, it was a checkbox item right there below the URL, like so:

Now, when you go to add a link, you get this (in the example below I have highlighted the word snoggle for the link):

You get a blank text box, and nothing else. So let’s type something in there:

Now we have a link, Hooray!

But how do we have the link open in a new tab?

Well, you click on the link (you naughty person) and get this:

The two icons above are, respectively, Edit and Unlink. So you click Edit and you get this:

Then you click on > Advanced and get this:

That’s right, the Advanced menu gives you one option: Open in new tab.

I don’t have the proper vocabulary to express how cosmically dumb this is. If there was a universe-wide contest for really, really bad UI, this would finish in the top three.

Now, go back and add up the number of images I’ve used to illustrate the new way of opening a link in a new tab vs. the old way. Explain this madness. You can’t. There is no explanation. Perhaps it’s meant as a joke, a cruel joke on us pathetic humans.

Theses are only three obnoxious things I’ve found in WordPress 6.3 so far. There may be more. And I haven’t even listed the remaining issues with the block editor (or other parts of the UI). But I have written enough on this, and now it is time for chocolate.

Post-chocolate:

Additional 6.3 regressions

  • Previously when using the Preformatted block, if you copied the text from a Preformatted block, then pasted it elsewhere, it would remember the formatting (bold, etc.). It now strips this formatting. Even better, it does this inconsistently, so sometimes it will strip, and other times it won’t.
  • Previously, a selected image would show you its dimensions under Width and Height. This information is no longer present, though the Width and Height properties are still shown.

Run 811: A quiet run along the river

Brunette River, pre-run

I opted to run on the river trail to condense the amount of walking and time needed. I think it was the right call.

Conditions were similar to Monday temperature and humidity-wise, but instead of rain, it was partly sunny, which was nice. There was a breeze, but no big gusts or anything.

The river trail was surprisingly quiet, especially given that the weather was not bad (the first few days of fall have been mostly bad). I set out with no particular goal in mind, other than maybe having a lower BPM than the last few runs. I achieved this with a BPM of 156 and overall pace of 5:43/km. A big aid in getting that pace was the first km, where I was not trying to run fast, yet ended up with a blistering (for me) pace of 5:28/km. At the high end, I got up to 5:56/km by the 3rd km, before picking the pace back up to finish.

The left hip was probably the quietest it’s been in a while, no doubt due to the smooth terrain of the river trail, while the right knee twinged briefly mid-run, and then was fine after.

Overall, a good run and I’m glad I didn’t have to face back-to-back runs in the rain. I can run in the rain, but I don’t like it.

Brunette River, post run (looking east)
Run 811
Average pace: 5:43/km
Training status: Maintaining
Location: Brunette River Trail
Start: 12:28 p.m.
Distance: 5.03 km
Time: 28:47
Weather: Partly sunny
Temp: 15ºC
Humidity: 81-82%
Wind: light to moderate
BPM: 156
Weight: 166.7
Total distance to date: 5935 km
Devices: Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: HOKA Speedgoat 5 (70/138/208 km)

I already like macOS Sonoma!

As always, I am a big dumdum and upgraded to the latest version of macOS, Sonoma (version 14) right away, because I love living on the edge, baby.

This is a relatively modest update, so I wasn’t too concerned about breaking things. And so far that has been the case. But the best thing is it allowed me to replace an entire app with a desktop widget (if you’re going to have widgets, let people place them on the desktop where they will actually see and use them. Looking at you, Windows 11). Previously I had used an app called Desktop Clock that, well, you can probably guess what it did. It placed a clock on the desktop, which I kept in the bottom-right corner of the right monitor, making it easy to see the time without having to look a hundred miles up to the menu bar.

In Sonoma, I just dragged the standard clock widget into the same spot and voilà, it does the exact same thing!

Did I mention how Sonoma is a pretty minor update?

But I now have a built-in clock widget on the desktop, and I am pleased.

The widget that please me

I added the weather widget, too, but I am not certain it’s actually updating, or maybe only updating intermittently. If it’s not working properly, there’s about a 50/50 chance it will be fixed by macOS 15.

Apparently voice dictation is better now, thanks to MACHINE LEARNING™ (don’t call it AI, buddy). I may hook up my Yeti mic and try it out later for a laugh. I will update this post if I do.

I’ll also update if I encounter anything else neat/weird/vexing about Sonoma.